Media Gets It Wrong: We're Not Embracing Democrat Kook Massa

RUSH: The State-Controlled Media, Snerdley, today, oh, they are breathless over two things. (panting) One is they think that I am a big supporter of Eric Massa, and they're trying to link me to Eric Massa. I'm not kidding. The Politico did it. Here's a media montage of how they're trying to do this.

SHUSTER: Massa has left Washington but he burned every bridge he could find and has now become a right-wing hero.

HARRIS: He's suddenly the new conservative hero. Rush Limbaugh was talking him up yesterday.

CAPEHART: All these conservatives who have put him in a bear hug as their champion.

O'DONNELL: Now he's a champion of the right and now Rush Limbaugh.

STEPHANOPOULOS: He was all over Rush Limbaugh yesterday afternoon.

HALL: Even Rush Limbaugh is offering to help Massa air his grievances with the Democratic Party.

RUSH: (laughing) Helping Massa air his grievances. No. Massa said he would consider rescinding. We want loose cannon kooks like this in the Democratic Party! We don't want him outta there. This guy, folks, we're talking eel, snake-like kind of slime here. We want this guy in the Democrat Party. I'm no champion of his. This guy, do you know why he opposed the House health care bill? Because it's not far left enough; because it's not single payer. He's not one of us. But if this guy is going to run around and tell stories about Rahm Emanuel running nude into a curtain-less shower stall in the House gym, hell, we'll be happy to spread that story. He said he wants national coverage. Fine. We're national. We're helping out. They're trying to say that I've adopted this guy and he's one of our great -- no, no, no, no, no. We were hoping to keep him in the House 'cause he's a "no" vote and he's a kook, he's a freak.

You know, I had forgotten this and I'm not even sure I knew it at the time, but Massa -- tell me if this rings a bell with any of you in there -- during the phony soldier bit, Massa was a leading House member accusing me, alongside Harry Reid, of besmirching the troops. Did you know it? Michelle Malkin sent me a note today and said: "Do you remember this guy?" I don't remember, and I don't know if I ever knew, because these are all YouTube videos. He's out there challenging me to a fight. He wants to come on this show, calling me a coward on this phony soldier business. And these guys in the media are trying to say I'm one of this guy's champions. Anybody who embraces this guy, including the Democrats, please do, but it isn't me.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, back to Eric Massa. Yesterday, I'd never heard of this guy in my life. If I heard of him before, I had forgotten him. All I knew was that this guy was telling great stories about Rahm Emanuel and these guys being butt naked in the shower in the House gym. And he's talking about how the country is going to hell in a handbasket and how the Democrat Party is forcing things down people's throats and the consent of the governed and all this kind of stuff. So here we have a legitimate kook and he says, "I won't quit." We need his "no" vote. We don't want this health care. We don't care who it is voting against it, kooky or not, and he says, "I might rescind my resignation if the story goes national." I simply offered to help take it national. But "supporting" what he said? Who knows? Actually from the moment this thing started yesterday I suspected a rope-a-dope and I still think a rope-a-dope's going on and I still think that anybody out there who embraces this guy is in for big trouble.

Anybody who embraces this guy is gonna get caught. Now, the reason that I never heard of this guy is that this is his first term in Congress. He was a candidate in 2007, he was running for office, and he was glomming onto Harry Reid during that ill-fated "phony soldier" business. Now, if you weren't here then, we had a bunch of lying, fraudulent people who claimed that they had been in Iraq who hadn't been. They were coming back, ripping the war effort and so forth. It was pointed out that they were phony soldiers because they hadn't been serving and so forth and I called them "phony soldiers." Harry Reid goes to the floor of the House trying to take advantage of the fact. There's nobody on radio more supportive of the US military than me and everybody knew it, but they thought they could make some hay with the media by casting me as somebody criticizing these guys because they were criticizing Bush.

So Dingy Harry writes a letter to the CEO of Clear Channel, my syndication partner, and in a very brave move the CEO of Clear Channel allowed me to have the letter rather than buck in fear to Harry Reid. Harry Reid's letter demanded I apologize and maybe be censored for awhile and so forth. I asked, "Can I have the letter? I want to post it on eBay and auction it off," and at the end of the day we got $4.2 million for that letter for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. We totally rammed it down Reid's throat to the point that on the day we closed bidding and got the high total bid of $2.2 million (which I matched) Reid's on the Senate floor trying to take credit for being part of this whole process. Now, I didn't know while all this is going on that there was this guy running for office named Eric Massa from New York who's using YouTube to glom onto this for himself. Michelle Malkin sends me a note today reminding me of all this.

If I've heard of this guy, I've forgotten it. My memory is pretty good. Yesterday was the first day, I think, I never heard of this guy. But we'll have to check our archives. I may have commented on this guy back during this whole thing. Eric Massa, according to Michelle, "owes much of his career and political success ... to Wesley Clark." Ashley Wilkes! Massa served under Clark and worked on Clark's doomed presidential campaign. Clark provided the cash-strapped Massa critical [Political Action Committee] support," help from the fringe kook websites of the left, "and funding for Massa's congressional bid." In addition, in addition to that... Oh, look at this headline! This is from the Politico: "Massa New Conservative Media Hero." He's not a "media hero" and he's not a "conservative," and nobody ever said that he was. At least, I didn't. Anyway, that's how they try to tie it to me. But this guy back in November of last year outlined the reasons why he voted against health care, and he was going to vote against it because it's not liberal enough. He wants to lift restrictions on writing policies across state lines but he wants a far more robust public option. He wants the government to go single payer. He's against the Stupak amendment. Obama doesn't regulate private insurance companies near enough in this bill. He wants 'em put outta business. He's a single payer guy. Massa is not saving the union. Massa is not coming forth and providing something that we've needed in a long time, and that is somebody in Washington to speak out. This guy is a loose cannon and it's a risk being involved with him. Now, let's go back, this is October 2 of 2007, YouTube channel, Massa for Congress.

MASSA 2007: Recently Rush Limbaugh called them "phony soldiers" because they disagreed with the president's policies even while they observe his orders. You know, last year Rush Limbaugh called Major Paul Hackett -- also a candidate of the United States Congress and a decorated Marine -- a "staff puke." Now, you gotta remember: Rush Limbaugh never once wore a uniform, not in his entire life. In fact, he sought out and obtained deferments so he wouldn't have to serve in Vietnam.

RUSH: I didn't "seek out and get deferments." You can't seek out and get deferments. I didn't seek out anything. Here's the next bite, October 2nd, 2007, the YouTube channel Massa for Congress.

MASSA: Rush, you're a schoolyard bully and I'm sick and tired of it. And those of us in uniform are sick and tired of it. And we're calling you out, and we're standing up and saying, "You want to attack people like Senator Reid? You want to attack people like Paul Hackett? You want to go after those soldiers who are serving who are letting their views be known, both under the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and in a respectful manner, calling into question the failed policies of George Bush? You should be ashamed of yourself. You're a pompous coward, and it's about time that someone call you out on it, and that someone is me. My name is Eric Massa. I'll go on your show any day, and I'll say it to your face, and I'll say it anywhere."

RUSH: Meet me in the shower at the House gym tonight, six o'clock. Oh, wait, you quit! So this guy's a kook. He's a literal kook. He jumped on this phony soldier business, simply because he bought all the left-wing websites, and he was obviously trying to score points in his congressional campaign as a result of doing this. And, by the way, Eliot Spitzer endorsed him.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, Jesse MacBeth, who was the phony soldier that I called a phony soldier. Jesse MacBeth, back in September 2007: "Man who posed as military hero sentenced to five months in prison." This is from the Seattle Times. He was a phony soldier. I was dead right about everything I said. And now the media, in trying to lump me with Eric Massa... I mean, what are they actually trying to do here? They're actually trying to chide me for believing something a Democrat says? Are we not supposed to believe Democrats? So I'm now associated with this kook? What is their headline here? "Massa New Conservative Media Hero?" Here's the bottom line: I've done more for Eric Massa -- I've done more to illustrate that this guy is a lunatic fringe kook in the last ten minutes -- than he's been able to do himself his entire life.

"Prior to my playing these audio sound bites of his YouTube campaign, there had been 13,000 views of his YouTube campaign of the particular sound bite where we're taking his audio sound bites. Now, I am told that since that time, just in the last -- is this accurate? -- 30 minutes, last 20 minutes, it's now 13,000 people times 278 is how many people have now seen the video. In other words, we did more in 30 seconds for Eric Massa to illustrate what a kook and an idiot and a fringe player he is than anything he did in his entire political career. He's now a national kook. He wanted to go national, and he is a national kook, and it's thanks to me -- and the media is chiding me for not believing a Democrat! It's amazing. And never forget: Jesse MacBeth was a phony soldier, made it all up, got five months in prison. Here is the rest of that Massa for Congress YouTube channel thing, October 2, 2007.

MASSA: You did your best to dodge military service while hundreds of thousands of Americans wear the uniform to give you the privilege of misusing the radio waves and [to] spread propagandistic lies that are wholly inaccurate about our military service members. I'm tired of your tactics, I'm tired of you shoving people around, and I'm tired of you being a school yard bully. You might have a lot of weight to throw around, but it doesn't carry a lot of weight with me. Rush Limbaugh, I'll go on your show any day. My name is Eric Massa, and you know where to find me.

RUSH: I never heard of him until yesterday! I'm convinced I never heard of him. I've gotta confirm this. George, go do an archive search, a total archive search from 2007 to see if Eric Massa was ever discussed by me on this program, specifically in regard to the phony soldier business. That's the webmaster, and he's looking at it now. I honestly... (interruption) What's that? (interruption) What did they do? (interruption) Even despite this, PMSNBC is associating me with Massa? (laughing) You know, it's like trying to sink a battleship with BBs and for 20-plus years they have been so eager to get this done, and they just continue to make abject fools of themselves. Here's a modern-day Democrat Party right here. Here it is. Massa and "Client No. 9," Eliot Spitzer. This is March 11th, 2008, an ad for candidate Eric Massa, featuring the then-governor, Eliot Spitzer.

CLIENT NO. 9: I believe in Eric Massa because he believes in a better New York, starting on day one.

MASSA: And I approve this message and ask for your vote on Election Day.

RUSH: "Together." Together, these guys have a sordid sexual history that would embarrass even Sydney Biddle Barrows, the original Mayflower Madam. Hang on here, Mike. I gotta find a sound bite. I'm looking for Jonathan Capehart. I know it's coming up here. Where did I see it? Number 16, and then I went way past it. Yeah, yeah. Here it is. Number 16, Jonathan Capehart who is at the Washington Post and the editorial board, was on MessNBC today with Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Capehart wanted to talk about one other aspect of this story that nobody is really focusing in on. Now, I want to play this sound bite. You keep in mind Eliot Spitzer, Client No. 9 (running around with prostitutes and sluts) and we've got the allegation here that Massa himself was running around sexually harassing male staffers. Here's Capehart's take. Now, remember we just heard the commercial: Eliot Spitzer and Eric Massa, "Together, we will..."

CAPEHART: (snickering) He didn't talk about the story about -- Massa's story that -- he told on that radio interview on Sunday on the ship in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm.

MIKA: That's what that...

SCARBOROUGH: (chuckling)

CAPEHART: So he goes back to his room -- which is really, really small --

SCARBOROUGH: This is what, he's in the Navy?

CAPEHART: He's -- (crosstalk) He's in the Navy they're on the ship in the Persian Gulf and they have bunk beds a fold down table and a sink.

SCARBOROUGH: Right.

CAPEHART: This is what he says, and he walked in where his roommate was -- as he said, euphemistically, remembering his wife; "his spouse." He said, "I decided to walk in, pat him on the leg, and say, 'If you need any help with that, let me know,' and then I went to sleep."

SCARBOROUGH: Pat and I are uncomfortable.

MIKA: I don't understand.

RUSH: Mika said she didn't understand what that reference means. Dawn, you know what that means? (interruption) You don't? Okay. I don't want you to talk about it. I'm doing a survey here to see if people understand that he was "remembering his wife." (interruption) No. Was he throwing up, remembering his wife? No. No, no. He was not vomiting when he was remembering his wife. No, no, no, no. Besides, Massa didn't offer to help him vomit. Massa was offering to help, you know, something else. So here you have client No. 9 and Eric Massa. We were just trying to keep a fringe kook in the Democrat Party, keep him in the House of Representatives, and it's been taken way out of context. Look, we have a Washington Times story from November 9th of last year. We'll link to it. Here's what he said, though, "I'm not going to vote for 3200," House Bill, "as it's currently written. Step one, I will vote for a single-payer option or a bill that does have a Medicare-coupled public option, which we don't have right now."

Questioner: "So if we got your meetings to sixty forty, you'd vote…and there was single payer in a bill you would vote for it?" Massa: "Oh absolutely I would vote for single payer." Questioner: "If there was sixty-forty sentiment in the room?" Massa: "Listen, I tell every audience: I'm in favor of single payer." So the reason the guy opposed the health care bill is not because he's a conservative, and not because he's worried about Washington corruption, and not because he's worried about the consent of the governed. He opposed it because it wasn't liberal, or enough or socialist enough or Marxist enough or whatever you want to call it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right, we searched the archives of RushLimbaugh.com and we double searched it via Google, and I made one mention of Eric Massa on this program prior to yesterday, and it was October 20th of 2009 when we played a sound bite of Eric Massa talking about the House and Senate bills health care being on different planets, and Massa said, "As much as I want this administration to succeed, they didn't present a piece of legislation to the US Congress. We still don't have a piece of paper that says what his plan is. We're kind of like pilots flying blind." And I responded, "That's right, Congressman, because you're going to take the hit on this. He gets to play Mr. Perfect up there, not have his name attached to anything," and he still doesn't, by the way. So there was no mention of Eric Massa during the phony soldier business. The first time I heard of it was today, but we had to double-check out there 'cause so much massive amounts of information enters my cranial cavity, and I have a great memory, but this guy's name didn't ring a bell when all this started.

My accuracy rating, you know, we're on a one-month suspension for the February audit of my opinions from the Sullivan Group because they're still assessing whether or not I actually was wrong in suggesting that Republicans not go up to the health care summit, but I'll tell you, it was just yesterday, it was just yesterday that I told you about this.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Jim in Williamsville, New York. Great to have you on the program. Hi.

CALLER: Rush, Partagas Lusitania cigar-smoking dittos to you from a 15-year-veteran listener and first-time caller and dittos for everything you do.

RUSH: Thank you. Where are those Partagas cigars from?

CALLER: I get them from Toronto.

RUSH: Ah. Good, good. Congratulations --

CALLER: Canada --

RUSH: Yeah, congratulations.

CALLER: Hey, listen, an interesting side-bar to that Eric Massa...Democrats. You know, our besieged governor, David Paterson, will be charged with naming a replacement for Massa, and I'm wondering if there's any chance you think that Paterson --

RUSH: Wait a minute.

CALLER: -- may exact some revenge on Obama, Emanuel, Cuomo, the whole Democrat gulag by appointing a Republican or at the very at least a DINO, Democrat in Name Only.

RUSH: Are you sure that Paterson appoints, or is there a special election?

CALLER: I am reasonably sure that Paterson will be appointing the replacement. Assuming that he, you know, doesn't resign in the next 60 or 90 days.

RUSH: Let's assume you're right. So David Paterson will become the Massa --

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: -- who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa's place. So for the first time in his life Paterson is going to be a Massa. Interesting. Interesting. Would he choose a Republican or a DINO, a Democrat in Name Only? You know, it would be great if he chose Harold Ford. (laughing) Or put himself in the seat. Interesting. Thanks for the call out there, Jim.